Association of blood lead and homocysteine levels among lead exposed subjects in Vietnam and Singapore.

Objectives: Lead and homocysteine are both linked to cardiovascular disease. With this in mind, the authors evaluated the relation between blood lead and homocysteine in people aged 19-66 years in two Asian populations.

Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised 183 workers from a lead stabiliser factory in Singapore and 323 workers from a battery factory in Vietnam.

Possible influence of delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase polymorphism and susceptibility to renal toxicity of lead: a study of a Vietnamese population.

We examined six newly identified polymorphisms in the delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to determine if these SNPs could modify the relationship between blood lead (PbB) and some renal parameters. This is a cross-sectional study of 276 lead-exposed workers in Vietnam. All workers were measured for PbB, urinary retinol-binding protein (URBP), urinary alpha1-microglobulin (Ualpha1m), urinary beta2-microglobulin (Ubeta 2m), urinary N-acetyl-beta -d-glucosaminidase (NAG), urinary aminolevulinic acid (ALAU), serum alpha1-microglobulin (Salpha1m), serum beta2-microglobulin (Sbeta 2m), and urinary albumin (Ualb).